Christmas!

We had a great Christmas! Everyone got a present they liked and we spent the day in jammies, just eating snack food and hanging out. Some of us got new cell phones (me and Andrew), and someone (our resident Guitar Hero expert) got: Someone got a foot massager, which Jack was happy to try out. Then he spent the rest of the day eating cookies: But this is the short video RK has been waiting for! (Sound down, seriously.)
Do you think she was surprised, and HAPPY to get her own cell phone?!

Catch up post

(This is mainly for me - to keep track of what we've been up to, and what still needs to be done before Christmas.)

We had 3 beautiful orchestra recitals. Andrew wasn't very impressed with his; he said they could've done better. But it sounded lovely to those of us in the audience. Tyler's was incredible. The amount of students in orchestra this year is truly astounding. The recital was in the gym and it was absolutely packed! Very different from when it was held in the library! M's was way bigger than ever too. She is really enjoying orchestra lately. I didn't get any pics of any of it. I was just thankful to get everyone where they needed to be when they needed to be there.

Jack was the only kid who had a Christmas party this year (or whatever they're calling it - I refuse to remember and keep calling it a Christmas party). I didn't get to go because I signed up to go on M's orchestra field trip to play at the mall. RK and I bought some snacks (juice, fruit snacks, and festive goldfish crackers) and I sent in tissue paper and Christmas baskets so they could play "throw the snowballs in the basket" game. I heard it went well. He still has 2 days of school so teacher gifts will get sent in this week.

Still have to finish that, finish Christmas cards (and buy stamps), one more gift to take care of for the grandmas and grandpas, wrap presents, purchase food for Christmas eve, day, and the day after, and call AT&T to straighten out a mess I made when I tried to extend our contract and upgrade our phones online. It seemed like a good idea. Oh and pay some bills. Thank goodness for online bill pay!

We're working on the Camaro so Andrew can drive it. Needs a heater core. Wants a new storeo and paint job. But it runs good, and will get him from place to place until it's pretty again. Then it'll get him from place to place in style! And before Christmas comes, my kitchen will have a new look! It has to do with last years' Christmas gift from Al's parents. It's gonna be gorgeous but I'll wait to tell what is happening 'til it's done!

Time to clean off the desk and get crackin. Maybe I can make some progress.

Perhaps it wasn't a good idea.....

to get Jack a trampoline for his birthday. It's just a little one so I think it will be okay. We have to put it away after he's been jumping for 20 mins or so or else he'd jump 'til he passes out. Maybe he will be able to work up to more time. I hope so. The problem is we found out that Jack has a gap between his skull and his c1 vertabra, a bigger gap than the ped neuro surgeon that we saw last Thurs is comfortable with. A gap that is known as AOI - atlanto-occipital instability. A gap that could potentially have life changing impact on our little man. People have little gaps between bones - that's normal and expected. A gap the size of Jack's between my skull and c1 would be okay. In him, not okay. So we have to restrict some of his wilder activities, no football or roller coasters. No big trampolines. We have to watch his walk, check for pain in his neck, loss of strength in his grip. We'll repeat the xrays in Apr. Please pray the gap will be less. We'll think about what happens if it isn't, then. In the meantime, we watch, we wait, we pray.

(It took me a long time to write, and then post this. I know, in the grand scheme of things, this is not the worst thing ever, nor is it the end of the world. But it's been very hard for me to process. Thankfully, I have good friends (one of whom has beautiful little girls) to distract me. If anyone has any helpful links, please pass them on.)

for Miss L

Jack's new skill! (No sound needed for this one. Sorry it's sideways - I forgot to turn it before I posted and don't know how to fix it!)

for Miss C

3 years of hard work, this is for you! (Turn your sound up!)

for Miss J

Are you watching?! (Turn your sound up.)